How to Do a Proper Pull Up, and Why You Need to Do Them

When many people think of fitness and the gym, they picture meatheads doing countless arm curls, staring at themselves in the mirror.

Sounds about right to me, and that makes me sad.

What’s truly unfortunate is that I hvery rarely see people in my gym doing deadlifts or proper squats, and I’ve probably only seen a handful of people (in a year and a half) doing legitimate pull ups.

As far as I’m concerned, if you’re not doing deadlifts, squats (going all the way down to parallel!), and pull ups and you want to “build muscle,” you’re leaving behind a TON of progress and gains.

We want to avoid that.

And you’re reading this article, which means you want to avoid that too! I knew you were smart.

If you’re afraid of making a mistake when it comes to doing pull-ups incorrectly, or you can’t quite do one yet but want to learn how, we’ve created a resource for ya: Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know – this guide will help you scale pull-ups til you can do them, get started in a gym, and how to train at home if you don’t have a gym!

You can download our massive strength training guide for free when you sign up in the box below:

Download our comprehensive guideSTRENGTH TRAINING 101!

Everything you need to know about getting strong.

Workout routines for bodyweight AND weight training.

How to find the right gym and train properly in one.

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Appearance is a consequence of fitness

When preparing for their roles in the movie 300, all the actors from the film went to train with Mark Twight.

who had them train by emphasizing “athleticism by combining compound movements, lifting, and throwing. Primitive tools – medicine balls, Kettlebells, rings – were used instead of machines. Each session was competitive, with a penalty-reward system tied to performance and results posted daily for all to see.”

That’s right, these guys weren’t training to have bulging biceps and chiseled abs.

Their motto, “appearance is a consequence of fitness,” meant that these guys worked on getting in the best shape possible – doing deadlifts, running sprints, Olympic ring push ups, doing pull-ups like clockwork, and then doing it all over again.

This type of training really struck a chord with me, because I’ve always been fascinated with turning myself into an absolute machine; if I happen to look good as a side effect, awesome.

Proper PulL-Ups

Personally, I believe pull ups are one of the most important exercises in a routine and I recommend them to anybody that comes to me for advice.

Forget bicep curls; show me a guy who can do 25 pull ups and 25 chin ups and there’s no WAY his arms aren’t well-developed.

I’ve written an updated article on “how to do a pull up” that is a must read, but this article will get you started!

Find a bar that will support your weight, anywhere. I don’t care. Just find one.

If you have a gym membership there will be pull up bars all over the place. At your house you might have “the perfect pull up” in your door way. If you have neither of these things, find a local playground and use their monkey bars. This is one piece of equipment that NEEDS to be in your arsenal, so find a way to get one. No excuses, play like a champion.

A PULL UP is when your hands are facing away from you. This will work your back and biceps.

A CHIN UP is when your hands are facing towards you. Although this also works your back, it has more emphasis on your biceps.

Grab a bar with a grip slightly wider than shoulder width, with your hands facing away from you. Hang all the way down. Pull yourself up until your chin is above the bar. Slight pause Lower yourself all the way back down. Go up, and really concentrate on isolating your back and biceps. Don’t swing!

Although we’ve written a pretty You can watch our quick 5 minute video on pull-ups here, which also covers how to scale them when you can’t quite do one yet:

Once you can do a single pull up, work on doing them in sets.

Do one pull up, then wait a minute or two and do another one.

Then wait a few more minutes and do another one.

A few days later, try to do two in a row, and do a few sets of two.

You need to start somewhere, but as soon as you can do one, you can find a way to do two. After that, find a way to do three, and so on. Remember, don’t cheat yourself by only going halfway down and not going all the way up. Straighten your arms out at the bottom, and get your chin over the bar!

Want big biceps? Do close-grip chin ups. I guarantee if you’re banging out 3 sets of 12 at the gym, maybe even hanging some weight around your waist, your arms will be built like cannons and you might need to have them legally declared.

If you’re interested in doing more pull-ups (or getting your first!), and you are looking for some free routines to follow, check out our free resource, Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know:

Download our comprehensive guideSTRENGTH TRAINING 101!

Everything you need to know about getting strong.

Workout routines for bodyweight AND weight training.

How to find the right gym and train properly in one.

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Remember, appearance is a consequence of fitness.

Pull ups are a true test to somebody’s level of fitness, so where do you fit in?

Might be an old comment like you say Michael, but the topic is still actively monitored. I clicked your link and bookmarked your blog. I have kept abreast of bodyweight exercises for 30 years now because and it has enabled me to work out at many unlikely places over the years. Also after lifting weights, even just one bodyweight routine per week will help you maintain your gains way longer than anything else when weights are not an option for a while. Like you say, bodyweight exercises have infinite variations which in turn also stops development freezing because of repetitive movement, plus it stops routines being boring. My 260Ibs (6’4″) frame is my only limiter. A 140Ibs guy obviously can do way more than me because he is not lifting as much weight as me.

Michael Prince

I do have the benefit of being about 140lbs! I have stopped lifting weights traditionally all together. I still do some kettle bell work but most of my routine is all bodyweight based. I have also really enjoyed “movement” lately, I’ve been following Ido Portal and the people at MovNat on Youtube. Its awesome and I really recommend it if your interested in bodyweight work!

A pull up is one of the greatest body weight exercises known to men. When I wasn’t doing pull ups I was focusing on arm isolation movements like curls and that stuff but my arms didn’t grow. Try doing close hand chin ups and tons of different pull/chin up variations and you arms will be bigger than ever. Solid advices.

Can’t argue with the power of the pull up. I installed a pull up bar in my garage. Standing rule: I do 10 reps every time I walk underneath it to get inside my house.

kie

Hey Steve. I’ve finished the book and I gotta say, I appreciate it! I’m working on leveling up and it’s pretty awesome so thanks for that. Anyway, do you have a practical approach to building up to doing 1 real unassisted pull-up? I’m a girl and I’m doing assisted pullups but one of my physical quests is to work up to doing 1 real one unassisted. Tips?

What many people don’t realize is that we are lifting our whole weight while doing pull ups or chin ups and that is way more than what we normally lift while doing barbell curls. So unless your are genetically doomed, you will surely get bigger biceps and forearms while doing these exercises.

Carolina Albano

I agree! I trained myself to do pull-ups/chin ups, at home, by jumping up to the bar and lowering myself slowly (at least 5 seconds). After a few weeks of this, I tried one just for kicks, and lo and behold I could do a chin up!!! Felt amazing. My chest and lats did start to get big, though, any recommendations on maintaining svelte upper body, while strengthening it?

Andrew Neil

Back in high school, I was always considered the scrawny kid, and the trend didn’t change as I got older. One day I stumbled upon http://www.thepullupsolution.info and it changed everything. The videos provided me with a personalized pull-up training program that allowed me to transform from the scrawny teenager I used to be to the ripped, lean young man I am today. If this program can turn a skinny whimp like I was into a pull-up machine, it can help anyone become healthier, stronger, and happier. I’m just so thrilled that I found this.

Fred

Hi Steve, thanks for this, I’m new to your site. But I saw very little technical details on how to do a pull up in this article. Can you please do another one with less about mirrors / 300, and more about how to do a pull up? Should I keep my body / back completely straight, should I cross my legs, am I allowed to curl my body into the pull up to make it easier when I get to the 3rd set of 15, can I bring my knees up to work the stomach or is that bad for the back, what warm ups and warm downs should I do? What other simple pre and post exercises will compliment and help? A long list of the most important technical bullets points to consider including my questions above would be extremely helpful and I think would get you some more views. Thank you Steve

ny hiker 50

Uh, the part about using the monkey bars may be a problem. Some parks have eliminate them because the’re “too dangerous”. The real problem in NYC is also that an adult cannot be in a playground without a child. I went to a water fountain and got yelled at.

I have found that alternating between high volume sets and lower volume sets with additional weight loaded on is the most effective way to build size and strength to your back, biceps and forearms. Way more effective and efficient vs. doing a ton of isolation sets!

Hey I was wondering, I’m 13 and I love be fit and I wanna gain lots of muscle because I was desently skinny but I’m not too much anymore so my goal is to build my bicep muscles, triceps muscles, back muscles and abs.

My PB is 9 chin-ups and I’m g with triceps. Do u know a g course or work out I could do to seriously increase my biceps and how many days. And I was also wondering any work outs or stuff for my triceps and forarms? Thx